A place for people interested in introspection, self awareness, mindfulness, meditation and training the mind to abide in a state that is free from the constant flow of meaningless chatter, mind theatrics, and discursive thought.

There are no bad guys!

Try and visualize in your mind the following scenario; you pick up the newspaper and read an article about a parent performing some horrific atrocity to a child. The police arrest the individual, who in turn accuses the police officer of police brutality.

Examine what thoughts, feelings and emotions you would likely experience as you read the article. Is there a tendency to judge the parent and in what way? What about the police officer? What emotions are felt toward the child? A common range of thoughts and emotions might go something like this; anger and outrage toward the parent, perhaps a strong sense of violation of the boundaries between right and wrong, a need to see justice? What about the police officer? Was he justified in bringing about some form of justice in a broken judicial system, or perhaps you feel he should also be punished because there are too many instances of police vigilanteism. Are there emotions tugging at your heart in sympathy for the child? How can there not be, after all the child did not deserve this.

Now lets re-examine from a self awareness stand point. When the above scenario was observed from a position of Ego, a great deal of thoughts, and emotions can quickly be observed. What thoughts and emotions you felt are a direct result of your own personal conditioning and views toward the world. Where one person may have felt anger and outrage toward the parent, another may have felt curiosity as to what brought a parent to this point. Whether you saw the police officer's actions as justifiable or reprehensible is again based on your own personal conditioning. Many of the thoughts feelings and emotions were likely to have had a very uncomfortable quality to them, especially if anger or outrage was among them.

These thoughts, feelings and emotions have a physical quality to them that do not feel very comfortable within us. They may even have a negative impact upon our physical well-being due to the stresses they produce. Now aside from that, what impact or benefit do they have on the parent, child or police officer? None! No matter what thoughts, feelings or emotions we may choose to engage in, none of them can undo what has been done, or help or change the situation in any way. Perhaps it may motivate someone to take action, but if action is taken from a position of strong emotion, its action can only lead to outcomes similar to the way the police officer handled the situation.

Now lets look at the what would happen if we had read the news article from a position of non-judgement and acceptance, in other words, not allowing any thought formations whatsoever to arise out of the situation. We would not have created any ill will, negative thoughts, or uncomfortable feelings within ourself. The event would simply have been an event that occurred. Feelings of love, and empathy for the child may still motivate you to take action to help the child, but now it can be done without the negative components that can cause irrational behaviour. If this were the position from which the police officer was operating, he would have simply done his job, the parent would simply have been arrested and brought in to custody. From there he would have been able to leave it up to the rest of the justice system to do the best job they are able.

A position of curiosity toward the parent might leave one wondering what drove the parent to commit the atrocity in the first place. Each and every one of us has had to face situations and events throughout our lives that cause us to act and react in certain ways. This is true for the parent as well. He or she may have been abused as a child, or witnessed horrific events in their youth. Something in their past has led to their actions.

A scenario laid out in this fashion shows the value of learning to become self aware. If we who practice self awareness and meditation for the purpose of transcending Ego find it to be a challenging task, what right then do we have to judge another person, one for whom self awareness may not even be a possibility. If we who are trapped in our Ego and are aware of it have difficulty controlling it, how then, can we expect someone else to be able to do so.

Compassion and empathy in turn seem to be the only healthy feelings one can harbour toward all parties involved, not just the child. Only when self awareness becomes so mainstream that every human on the planet practices it, and it is in turn taught in schools to our youth, can we expect to see violence, hatred, and anger start to disappear from the planet, and for the human race to evolve into a world of peace. As Ghandi said "Be the change you would like to see in the world"

Positive and Negative Energy Flow

When we examine those individuals that seem to have the most energy, it
becomes quickly obvious that they also tend to have the most positive
attitudes in life. It could also be said that those with the most
positive attitudes tend to be the most energetic. Either way, the two go
hand in hand. Looking at the opposite side of the spectrum, it is also observed that those individuals with the most negative attitudes tend to have the lowest energy levels.

There seems to be an obvious relationship between attitude and energy
level. This in turn poses the question as to how they are related. We
have to start by recognizing that this universe is more about energy
than we tend to think it is. Einstein recognized this relationship when
he developed the formula E=MC2 or Energy = Mass x Speed of Light.

All that we perceive as solid is made of atoms, which are nothing more than tiny particles of concentrated energy. The speed at which the electrons circle the nucleus of an atom, (the speed of light) is what allows these masses of energy to appear solid. The atom actually is comprised mostly of empty space. To gain perspective, if the nucleus were blown up to be the size of a tennis ball, the electrons would be orbiting about a kilometer away. It is energy that keeps the electrons in orbit around the nucleus.

Putting all of this in perspective, the physical self that we perceive to be solid is ultimately constructed and held together by energy. We would not be incorrect in thinking of ourselves as energy beings, or as conduits through which energy can flow.

Energy can be of either a positive or a negative nature. We have the ability to make a conscious choice as to what polarity of energy we wish to have flow through us. Thoughts ultimately are just another form of energy, and as such they are the determining factor over which polarity of energy flows through us, positive or negative. We have the ability to choose, and to control which thoughts we wish to give our energy and attention to and thereby which direction our energy flows. Think of a battery, where the positive terminal is an outflow of energy. The negative terminal is an inflow of energy. Positive thoughts are a source of positive energy, and feeling the wonderful effects of positive energy can in turn bring about more positive thoughts. Negative thoughts are a great consumer of energy, leaving one feeling drained. As one experiences too much draining of energy, thoughts can easily turn toward the negative, further perpetuating the downward spiral of energy.

Negative energy and attitude can be thought of as flowing
backwards, through us and into a vortex-like black hole. People with an
extremely negative energy flow are sometimes referred to as social
vampires, as they seem to just suck the life out of everyone and
everything around them. Often, they are not even aware of what their own
mental state is.

When we allow positive energy to flow outwards through us and into the world it has a positive effect on our mental attitude. Likewise, having a positive attitude will polarize our energy to the positive. The more we focus our thoughts and attitudes in a positive direction, such as with the energies of Love, Kindness, Compassion, etc., the more positive energy, and in turn Joy, will flow into our life.

The next time you feel like your energy reserves are low, stop and examine your state of mind and attitude. A simple shift in attitude, and perhaps even a few random acts of kindness can work wonders for your energy level.

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Understanding how and why the mind creates its seemingly unending flow of thoughts, words, pictures, and mind theatrics is the first step in quieting the mind and an essential step on the path to enlightenment. When the mind is able to comprehend that it is its own source of suffering, it can be trained to become a willing participant in bringing about a peaceful contented mind and put and end to self created suffering.

About The Author

Whenever anything is pulled in a downward direction against its will with an ever increasing force, only 1 of 2 possible outcomes can occur. It either succumbs to the downward pull, or the force that is pulling snaps and the object is catapulted the other way. This is perhaps the simplest way to sum up the events of my life.
After many years of anger, bitterness, depression and resentment at the way I had perceived my life, something snapped and my consciousness shot up the other way. After several days I settled back into a more neutral place, one that was still much better than where I had come from.
This was the beginning of a spiritual and inquisitive journey not only to find my way back to where I spent those few days, but also to try and understand what had happened to me.
My intention was to figure out how it all worked in a way that could hopefully also benefit others.
With each passing day I spend ever increasing amounts of time in a silent mind, each day closer to the state I spent those few days in.
I now know that reaching that state is not the end of the journey, for there is an infinite amount of space in which the soul can grow.

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